It is interesting to note that a movie strenuously preaching the virtue of being different should be so fundamentally — so deliberately, so timidly — just like everything else of its kind... Still, even in the absence of originality, there is fun to be had, thanks to some loopy, clever jokes...and a lively celebrity voice cast.

Families who have already raced to “Monsters University” and “Despicable Me 2” will find Turbo an acceptable third-place finisher. A sort-of escargot-meets-“Cars” adventure, it has some sharp vocal turns and remains fun even when its inventiveness runs out of gas.

While small children may be enchanted by this little gastropod that could, adults will be more sorely tested. For all the horsepower Turbo boasts about, the movie tends toward the sluggish — as in slow as a slug.

Here, the laughs come not from the silly voices but a blend of snappy editing and clever character bits, including a recurring joke about an inappropriately named sidekick who calls himself White Shadow (Michael Patrick Bell).

For all its chronic familiarity, the movie has its minor pleasures, many of them visual. Though at this point it's basically a given that a new studio-animated movie will look good, Turbo often looks downright exceptional.

Turbo makes an entertaining go of it by borrowing very liberally from the “Fast & Furious” franchise — Michelle Rodriguez even voices a character — and sticking a slime trail onto “Rocky” for the rest.

Kids should be game for the ride, and the colourful characters offer humour and poignancy: Paul Giamatti’s cautious snail Chet shares a sweet friendship with reckless Turbo. Comparisons with Pixar’s ‘Cars’ are easy to make, but that’s no bad thing.

There’s nothing remotely revolutionary about Turbo’s underdog-sports narrative, but that’s okay—it’s one of the sturdiest plots in film for a reason—and the film’s emotional beats are no less potent for being expected, thanks to the ground-level focus on the human-snail relationships that fuel them.

The movie gets a bit slow, with too much time spent on the human characters, who are dreary and underwritten, compared to the big dreams of the little snail. But the film picks up when the racing snails come back onscreen, thanks to the adorable character design, with expressive use of those googly eyes, and especially to the voice talent.

While there's no denying that the film is a harmless, wholesome, and heart-warming ride crafted with polish and skill, it's also so predictable that you'll see every twist in the story driving down Fifth Avenue.

There's nothing overtly wrong with Dreamworks Animation's slick (from snail slime) new summer kid-pleaser, but for a movie about aThere's nothing overtly wrong with Dreamworks Animation's slick (from snail slime) new summer kid-pleaser, but for a movie about a speed-obsessed snail who just go with it enters the Indy 500, it sure does sit there. It's easy, formulaic and light on laughs. But, for those dragged to see it by children, it won't make you want to rub salt in your eyes. So it's a faint fail or a faint pass, depending on your resilience. Ryan Reynolds voices Theo aka "Turbo" a snail inexplicably determined to be as fast as a Nascar racer. As if you could hear it coming straight out of a pitch meeting. "Wouldn't it be funny if a snail wanted to be fast? Because they're so slow!" Paul Giamatti plays Turbo's "isn't the life we have just fine?" brother, Chet, who mostly shouts things like "It's not natural!" and "That's not what Mother Nature had in mind!" at Turbo so much that you come to realize, after 10 minutes, that the villain in this film is reality. And after endless bickering between a sourpuss and an contrived dreamer, you begin to resent both sides of the argument. In fact, and this is where I'll lose some of you (but it's where my mind goes when I'm bored during a kids' movie), there's a struggling LGBT undercurrent to whole story. Especially when it comes to how much Turbo wants to desperately change who he is as a creature entirely. And, subsequently, how much he's told that he's wrong for wanting to be something different. You get relentlessly beaten about the head by both sides of the fence so much that after a while you have to clear the cobwebs and remember that you're watching a stunt-casted cartoon flick.
From there the story plays out as predictably as possible, leaving little room for surprise or inspiration. Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg (Lion?) and Maya Rudolph play members of Turbo's rag-tag daredevil snail crew as the movie tries its hardest to convince you that a super-powered snail is somehow the underdog in a racing sport, despite the fact that he's already vastly superior simply by being a supernatural "thing that should not be." A chemical has, in fact, enhanced his performance.…Full Review »

Saw it with my 7 year old son we both had a great time. Yes, the story is hardly innovative, but the animation is great, the humor is great,Saw it with my 7 year old son we both had a great time. Yes, the story is hardly innovative, but the animation is great, the humor is great, the voice acting is great and it's overall just a lot of fun. Turbo is getting a bit beat up for the wrong reasons. Critics should take in account the target audience, like my son, who loved it. And as an adult, believe me, you could do far worse. So, if you are 2 dudes in your 20s, you probably won't be blown away (as you might with Pixar) but for families with easy-going kids, you won't be sorry you dropped some cash on a Saturday afternoon.…Full Review »

The animation is probably weaker than most animations films today but Turbo is more human, more interesting and better made overall thanThe animation is probably weaker than most animations films today but Turbo is more human, more interesting and better made overall than Monster University and Despicable Me 2.…Full Review »